Fullerton votes to put teeth in sex offender law

Barry and Susan Levinson listen as Fullerton City Council hears a presentation about the new ordinance against sex offenders in the city. ADAM TOWNSEND, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

FULLERTON - The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow the fining and jailing of registered sex offenders who moved within 2,000 feet of a park or a school.

"The ones that we are focusing on here are the most serious of the serious (sex offenders)," said Capt. Kevin Hamilton.

The new Fullerton law, which takes effect in a month, will make violators of Jessica's Law subject to as much as a $1,000 fine and six months in jail.

Jessica’s Law established the perimeters around parks and schools throughout the state where convicted sex offenders may not live. Jessica’s Law does not carry penalties; Fullerton’s law adds them.

The city’s move comes after national attention garnered by the Levinsons, a Fullerton family that lives near Laguna Lake Park. A registered sex offender, Eric Hinnenkamp, 45, inherited his parents' home nearby; at one time there was fear he would move in.

Barry Levinson commended city staffers for assembling a "well-written, clear and important piece of legislation."

A couple of months ago, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas wrote a forceful letter to Orange County state legislators imploring them to fix the state law. At a public meeting in Fullerton in May, he urged municipalities and county supervisors to add local penalties so Jessica's Law violators can be fined and jailed.

In 1990, while on probation for indecent exposure, Hinnenkamp convinced two 13-year-old sisters to let him into an apartment complex’s Jacuzzi in Fullerton, Rackauckas said in his letter. He was convicted of two felony counts of child molestation and a felony count of indecent exposure.

In 1992, in a different O.C. case, Hinnenkamp was convicted of indecent exposure and lewd acts in public, the letter said. In 2000, in Los Angeles County, he was convicted of sexual battery of a restrained person, indecent exposure during residential trespass and failure to register as a sex offender, the district attorney said in the letter.

After his release, he was paroled to Orange County and moved into an apartment in Huntington Beach.

In May, a man inside the Huntington Beach apartment listed as belonging to Hinnenkamp refused to open the door when approached by a Register reporter who wanted to at least leave a business card.

"I suggest you leave nothing and walk away," the man said from behind the door. "I'm about ready to prosecute the media. I'm trying to get ready for work."

Barry and Susan Levinson listen as Fullerton City Council hears a presentation about the new ordinance against sex offenders in the city. ADAM TOWNSEND, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Fullerton Police Captain Kevin Hamilton explains the details of the city's new sex offender ordinance to council. ADAM TOWNSEND, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Barry Levinson, a candidate for council in November, asks council to adopt the anti-sex offender ordinance he and his wife, Susan, have championed since spring. ADAM TOWNSEND, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
From left, council members Pam Keller, Don Bankhead and Sharon Quirk-Silva listen to the details of a new sex offender ordinance, one which they subsequently adopted 4-0. ADAM TOWNSEND, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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